


Important

by ncisduckie



Series: Love Me, Love You [6]
Category: Skip Beat!
Genre: Cliffhangers, F/M, Reaction, chapter 276
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:49:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21544051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncisduckie/pseuds/ncisduckie
Summary: After 276, Kyoko isn't quite ready to talk when she crosses Ren's path.
Relationships: Mogami Kyoko/Tsuruga Ren
Series: Love Me, Love You [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1294400
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	Important

It wasn't like last time, where their only witnesses were Yashiro and President Takarada. This time, as their eyes met across the room, they had an audience of twenty some odd strangers. And they were looking at them. Unfortunately, a side effect of Tsuruga Ren being in the room was that Tsuruga Ren attracted attention. Kyoko couldn't run. Not without making a scene. Ren braced himself, pulling his phone from his face and ending the call just as Yashiro picked up. He smiled and stuffed his phone in his pocket before waving. Slowly. Steadily. If he moved too fast, she would bolt regardless of their audience. "Mogami-san," he said pleasantly.

Kyoko was a deer in the headlights. Already, she knew what people were thinking:  _ Who was she _ ?  _ Why was he talking to her _ ? She shook her head and backed away on spaghetti legs. "I--I gotta--" Kyoko turned on her heels and walked as fast as she could back to the studio hallway.  _ Sorry, Tsuruga-san,  _ she thought as she escaped into the near-empty hall.  _ I can't do this right now _ .

A hand yanked her wrist back and she yelped as she was pulled behind a rack and found herself face-to-face with Ren. She squeaked, her breath stuck halfway up her throat. "H-Hello?" Kyoko cleared her throat. “What... What are you doing here, Tsuruga-san?”

"You keep running away from me." Ren looked away. “You’re very fast.”

She froze, the words sinking into her skin. They should mean something to her, something really important. But the only thing she could focus on right now was the warm softness of Tsuruga's hand still on her wrist. "I--" She stopped, staring at his hand. 

"Oh." He released her wrist and tucked his hand behind his back. It never occurred to him that he had still been holding her. "Sorry."

They remained shrouded in silence, oblivious to the people passing by with incredulous faces. While the hall was less crowded than the studio lobby, there were more people that recognized Kyoko, too. And all of them were wondering why the two of them had sequestered themselves quite conspicuously behind a clothing rack when it leaked this morning that Ren was supposedly dating Kusunoki Kana. None of them, however, were willing to interrupt the moment; they liked their jobs too much. So, Kyoko and Ren remained in their own bubble.

They spoke at once, breaking the moment with a cacophony of overlapping sentiments:

"I need to apologize for--" 

"Are you all right?"

Hardly taking a breath, they narrowed their eyes at each other and tried again:

"Apologize for what?" 

"Am I okay? Are you okay?" 

Ren broke from the pattern a half-second before Kyoko, unable to waste their time in such an inconsequential way. Yashiro was sure to be here any moment and Kyoko probably had something to do. He motioned for her to continue. "You first." 

"I saw the... I saw the tabloid yesterday. Obviously,” Kyoko added hastily. There probably wasn’t a soul in their industry that didn’t see the news she now knew was fake. She looked down, her cheeks burning. If she looked at him any longer, there wouldn’t be any way she could hide that she already knew. "Are you all right?"

“I’m...” Not great. Awful. Shitty. All of the synonyms in the thesaurus, they probably described him. Ren shook his head and licked his lips. "Can I--can we talk?" he asked stiffly. 

Her attention snapped up; her brows wrinkling together. "Aren't we already talking?"

“Privately.”

She shook her head. The last thing she needed was to be in close quarters with him when her emotions were spinning a whirlwind in her gut. One wrong step and she would confess everything from Bo to her hatred of Kimiko--which would only lead to her feelings. Things were too volatile. “Anything you need to say, you can say right here.”

He hesitated, remembering that they were still in the public eye. While he was almost positive that TMB wouldn’t let sleazy tabloids back there, he couldn’t be sure one of the studio’s journalists wasn’t listening in somewhere. But it was a risk he needed to be willing to take, especially if he intended to clear the air between them.

Taking a deep breath, he let it out without letting himself second-guess the decision. Kana would just have to deal with him spilling the truth. Kyoko was his only concern right now. “I’m not with Kana-san; I was being taken advantage of when the picture was taken.”

“Oh,” Kyoko said evenly. It was the best she could do without arousing suspicion. She averted her eyes, swallowing. “The rest of Japan will be relieved to know you’re still available.”

A defeated ‘oh’ wasn’t what he was expecting. Even the chicken had the decency to react with more feeling. He pressed, unconcerned with the consequences. “And you?”

“What about me?” She shook her head, laughing nervously. It was unbelievable, having him twist the knife in her gut so nicely. Didn’t he realize that this was something he needed to be telling Kimiko? “I don’t matter.”

“Mogami-san--you matter to me.” He blinked, realizing what he said. Already, he could feel the judgemental gazes from passing stagehands. Ren coughed and stepped back. “And to a lot of other people. But...”

He ducked to meet her eyes, forcing her to look him in the eye. “I don’t want to leave you with an unfavorable opinion of me. The last thing I want is for your opinion of me to sink below...” Everyone, his brain unhelpfully supplemented. But that was wrong--that’s not how healthy relationships worked. He wasn’t going to manipulate her to get her. He forced the thought from his head and licked his lips. “I very much want to avoid disappointing you.” 

The air was sucked from Kyoko’s lungs. She couldn’t bring herself to tear her eyes away from him and she was afraid that he would be able to hear her heartbeat even from where he stood. Why was her heart beating so fast? “Really?” She rasped finally. 

“Of course.” Ren ran his hand over his face and stifled a sigh. She was going to force him to say it directly; he should have seen it coming. “You’re very important to me, Kyo--”

"Kyoko-chan, what are you still doing here?"

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to write another long apology but I can’t bring myself to write another? If you’re looking for some apologies, please read: “Falling into Place” or “Amends." My apologies! 
> 
> Also note: I'm hoping to have the next chapter of Anyone Else soon! 
> 
> Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave a Review!


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